


Change

by Storm_Clouds_and_Starshine



Series: the suffering won't fade (just because time's past) [5]
Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Tamers
Genre: (on ryou's part), Canon Compliant, Gen, I think?, Jealousy, Lonliness, Protective Cyberdramon (Tamers), Trust Issues, and also get rid of whatever terrifying powerful enemy he has yet to find, being unused to human contact, but considering how little ryou and cyberdramon get shown, but like. lightly implied trust issues, cyberdramon just wants to be an ultimate already, i WILL make that a tag and you cannot stop me, i dont know if this series is gonna stay canon compliant for long, i wrote this in like 40 minutes tops, it might be, loosely covers from ryou's appearance to right before they get onto the arc, mentions of isolation, so he can protect ryou, uhhh i dunno what else to add?, who knows - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 12:55:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30022113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Storm_Clouds_and_Starshine/pseuds/Storm_Clouds_and_Starshine
Summary: Cyberdramon and Ryou encounter other humans. A few battles of minor importance are fought. And then it is time for the humans to go home - and their digimon partners with them.
Relationships: Akiyama Ryou | Ryo Akiyama & Cyberdramon (Tamers)
Series: the suffering won't fade (just because time's past) [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1932964
Comments: 11
Kudos: 5





	Change

**Author's Note:**

> -casually strolling in with a caramel macchiato in hand- 'sup, welcome to another installment of the "i only work on this series occasionally because if i do it any more frequently than i do i'll just be constantly crying about ryou and cyberdramon" series. glad to see y'all are still here
> 
> miracles verse may be my magnum opus of pure "that is a Lot and how the hell did you manage to tell this story cohetently"-ish-ness, but this series is the one where i grab one part of canon and sob about it because no one else is gonna say anything about these implications
> 
> anyways fic warnings (because we all know this series is entirely just oneshots), minor mention of head trauma (remember that scene where cyberdramon kills majiramon via literal skull-crushing? yeah), that's about it?

Cyberdramon wasn’t aware, exactly, of when things had changed.

  
  


When Ryou had gone from “the human who can make me stronger” to just “Ryou”. 

  
  


When his desire for strength was replaced by the desire to keep Ryou safe and protected and unharmed.

  
  


When he went from thinking of Ryou as just “the human” to thinking of Ryou as “ _mine_ ”.

  
  


Cyberdramon wasn’t aware of when things had changed, or how long they’d been that way, but he _was_ aware of when it really became _noticeable_ to him.

  
  


They’d been wandering around again - Ryou had wanted to check on some of the digimon they’d met before, gentle soul that his was, and Cyberdramon complied with his human’s wishes. (How could he _not_? Even with the goal of strength, Ryou was still _his_ \- and Cyberdramon would be just as damned as the two voices in his head if he was going to let something that was his be taken away from him.)

  
  


Cyberdramon honestly didn’t remember much of the actual fight, or the clouded area it had happened on. There was a Megadramon causing problems. Cyberdramon dealt with it, like he always did. Ryou kept him from killing the other opponent, the enemy, like he always did. Cyberdramon growled in protest, like he always did. Ryou helped the digimon who had been attacked, _like he always did_ , because Ryou’s soul was a kind one even if he was hurting underneath that fake, too-wide too-perfect smile.

  
  


He remembered the meeting with those other humans, though. Cyberdramon didn’t know how long it had been since he had dragged Ryou through the gate to the Digital World with him - and Cyberdramon refused to apologize for that, Ryou had _chosen him_ , Cyberdramon was not going to let Ryou just _leave_ \- but he knew that in all that time, there had never been another human. There had just been Ryou. Only Ryou, with his Cyberdramon there always hovering nearby, torn between the voices screaming at him and wailing for Ryou, torn between his unknown hatred for other creatures being _close_ to him and his desire to possess and never let go of what was _his_.

  
  


It had only been Ryou, for the longest time. And now there were more humans, and Cyberdramon didn’t know what that _meant_. (He had a feeling it couldn’t be something good - the nastier, colder voice in his head, the one that sounded layered on top of itself, muttered something vague about ‘chaos’ and ‘it begins’. Cyberdramon ignored it with the practice of years.)

  
  


The human with the Renamon - _her_ name was apparently Ruki, and apparently she had met Ryou before - was very. . . intense. She held some strange mix of loathing and admiration and frustration towards Ryou, and if it hadn’t been for the firelight and Ryou’s hand between the points on his helmet lulling him into a daze, Cyberdramon would have snarled at her for the way she spoke to Ryou. All scathing words and dislike clear to be seen. Cyberdramon did not miss the slight tensing of Ryou’s hand, even as he pasted on that too-perfect grin and too-level voice and pretended that the things she said didn’t bother him at all.

  
  


Cyberdramon honestly would have bitten the thing, had he been more in his right mind and not half-asleep by the fire’s warmth. How _dare_ she be so - _cruel_ to Ryou. The first human contact Ryou had had in months, and she has to go and _attack_ him for something as minor as a loss? She hadn’t even been _scratched_ , let alone killed, so what was the point of holding onto those feelings if the fight had been as minimal and small as it was? Ryou didn’t need more _hurt_ \- humans were social creatures and what Ryou needed was the opposite of hurt - and how _dare_ she hurt what was _his_.

  
  


(Perhaps Cyberdramon was overreacting, but. . . Ruki hadn’t seen Ryou in the quiet nights of the months, when Ryou shivered and folded into himself and tried to hold back the tears. Ruki hadn’t seen Ryou staggering when Cyberdramon had been sloppy and an attack was able to hit the boy, pressing a hand to his side and yelling for Cyberdramon to be careful, as if Ryou wasn’t bleeding that alarming shade of red. Ruki hadn’t seen the times when Ryou crumbled and sobbed into Cyberdramon, looking more broken than anything else Cyberdramon had known, missing home and missing those memories that would be forever lost. Ruki didn’t see Ryou, covered in scrapes and bruises but still grinning after Cyberdramon had defeated a particularly difficult opponent. Didn’t see Ryou when he pressed a flower into Cyberdramon’s hands because the pale gray flowers made the boy think of Cyberdramon. Didn’t see the way Ryou’s hand trembled when he was tired, the way his right hand would ache in the colder nights and he’d be kept up all night by the pain of it until Cyberdramon curled up tight around the boy. Didn’t see how hard Ryou had worked to even _survive_ in this place that was so foreign and hostile to his very being.)

  
  


Cyberdramon did not care to remember the names of the other two humans - one of them seemed to adore Ryou (or admire, the two voices could not agree on that, and neither could Cyberdramon), and the other was much more quiet, but they were not threats. So long as they did not harm Ryou, he would avoid biting them. Ruki had wandered off somewhere, with her Kyuubimon - and good riddance to her.

  
  


After some more time of wandering - Cyberdramon had never learned to keep track of time, finding no point in it - they’d stumbled upon more humans, apparently friends of the other two who had been with Ruki. Most of them were not threatening. 

  
  


The blue one with those red eyes was almost a threat - but that sense of chaos and raw rage was buried deep, and Cyberdramon deemed him to be not a threat in the long run.

  
  


Ryou held the fake smile and fake perfection around the other humans - the kind he had worn when Cyberdramon had only first met Ryou, back before he wasn’t able to tell the difference. Ryou was very practiced at using that smile and voice. None of the other children thought to think about anything. Cyberdramon stuck close to Ryou regardless, a constant presence, looming over Ryou’s shoulder. 

  
  


(He was not happy about that night when the humans had all slept in beds, and the digimon had slept apart from them. Cyberdramon had gotten used to curling around Ryou, whether to be a shield from outside threats or simply to transfer warmth. Ryou had only given an apologetic tilt to his smile, a slight narrowing of eyes and tilt of his head, and Cyberdramon begrudgingly went to where the other digimon were. It was smart not to reveal a weakness to a tentative ally until you could be sure they wouldn’t attack you, but Cyberdramon still did not _like_ it. 

  
  


Cyberdramon did not sleep that night, fidgeting and only managing to slip into a half-awake daze. He had a feeling, deep in his Core, that despite the appearance of being deep asleep, Ryou was the same way.)

  
  


They split up from the other humans again, after the fight with Majiramon. Cyberdramon relished the feeling of crushing the other dragon’s skull underneath his claws, and would have gladly stayed in that enlarged form to tear apart any enemies - but Ryou did not want Cyberdramon rampaging, and Ryou did not want Cyberdramon attacking the other humans that had stumbled into this world, and so they left. It was better, in the long run. They ended up finding their way to Baihumon and Xuanwumon, and meeting the other humans, and even his apprehension was worth the way Ryou was relieved to not worry about them anymore. Ryou knew more than anyone how fragile humans were in this world, after all.

  
  


Two of the humans’ partners had obtained their Ultimate-level forms, and Cyberdramon would not deny his jealousy. He wanted that strength, that ability to crush and bite and tear and protect better than he already could. Part of him wanted to scream that it wasn’t _fair_ \- but Ryou had been doing his best, Cyberdramon knew this, so it must have been something wrong with Cyberdramon.

  
  


The feeling only worsened when Ruki - detestable, cruel Ruki, who had hurt his Ryou with her unkind words even if Cyberdramon was the only one to know it - and her Renamon became Sakuyamon, gained that strength as well.

  
  


Was it something wrong with Cybedramon? It must have been - it certainly wasn’t anything wrong with Ryou, because Cyberdramon knew better than anyone how hard Ryou had tried to help Cyberdramon to become stronger. At first out of a sense of obligation, perhaps, but Cyberdramon knew that by now Ryou did it for Cyberdramon’s sake alone, because Ryou knew that that strength was important to Cyberdramon (and yet even Cyberdramon didn’t know entirely _why_ ), and that was enough to convince the boy. So it must have been something that Cyberdramon had failed to do (just as he’d failed to gain strength before, just as it had taken so _long_ for him to achieve his Perfect form alone).

  
  


It must have been the human world that had some impact. Yes, that would explain it - the three children and their partners had all come to the human world before this. It must have been the human world that afforded that strength. 

  
  


Ah, well. Perhaps Cyberdramon was lucky in that regard. They were to travel immediately back to the human world to better fight that Chaos that had been causing such a problem (and that was so much stronger than anything else Cyberdramon had encountered before-). Some sort of Ark, sent by the humans from their world, to carry all the human children back home, and their partners with them.

  
  


Yes, that was the best plan of action. Cyberdramon would look forwards to it. He _would_ . It would be a chance to learn more about where Ryou came from (perhaps for both of them), and to meet those parents that Ryou apparently had (that Ryou didn’t say much about, that Ryou didn’t _remember_ much about-)

  
  


Yes. They would go to the human world, and fight off the Chaos, and Cyberdramon would receive his Ultimate form and Ryou would be truly _happy_ again. And Cyberdramon and Ryou would be split apart again, back to their respective worlds, and it would be fine, because Ryou deserved better than the violence and unstability that living with Cyberdramon provided. Ryou would be able to settle, to make connections to other humans again. It would be _fine_. That was what was _supposed_ to happen.

  
  


Yes, that was the best plan of action.

**Author's Note:**

> come cry with me about this series over in the miracles verse discord, which despite the name isn't for miracles verse exclusively i'm just too lazy to rename it: https//discord.gg/FTkZkyy
> 
> also please leave a comment, chances are i'll cry because either you said something nice or you were also being sad about ryou and cyberdramon with me
> 
> also, please note that cyberdramon's description of ruki's actions are eggagerated. he's just protective and doesn't have much experience in Dealing With Humans (his only example is ryou, who is either nice or tries to hide any of those uglier emotions). he's not really met anyone who acts kinda mean but doesn't really mean it. (also i havent seen tamers in a while, so it's partially my own lack of memory there as well)


End file.
